The
Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) opened its line from Wilmington Junction to Boston on July 1, 1845.
Stoneham station opened on Franklin Street in the east part of
Stoneham then or soon thereafter. In 1853, the east part of Stoneham was annexed into
Melrose (itself split from
Malden in 1850 due to development around the rail line) and soon renamed
Melrose Highlands. Unusually, the B&M did not rename the station – likely to compete with the rival
Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) for Stoneham traffic. (The B&L had its Montvale station slightly closer to downtown Stoneham, and opened the Stoneham Branch directly to the town in 1862.) The original station was on the west side of the tracks just south of Franklin Street. The station was demolished in the 1950s or 1960s. The
MBTA, formed in 1964 to subsidize suburban commuter rail service, began funding
Reading Line service on January 18, 1965. Rail service on the inner Haverhill Line was suspended from September 9 to November 5, 2023, to accommodate signal work. Substitute bus service was operated between Reading and Oak Grove, serving all intermediate stops. ==References==